516 ALASKAN HERD. 



I am asked if a zone of prohibition about the islands, a territorial 

 limitation, or a close season for pelagic sealing, 



Leon Sloss, p. 92. one or all of these restrictions will not, in my 



opinion, prove a sufficient restraint upon marine 

 hunters to allow the rookeries to grow again. I answer emphatically 

 no. 1 do not believe they will suffice, and my answer is without per- 

 sonal bias, for I am not now engaged in the sealskin trade and have 

 no interest in the industry other than that of the average American 

 citizen. The scarcity of seals and consequent high price of skins stim- 

 ulates the ingenuity of every man in the business either to evade re- 

 striction or to invent more certain methods for capturing the animals. 

 The rookeries are doomed to certain destruction unless brought within 

 the sole management of those on the islands, whose interest it is to 

 to care for them. Marine sealing should be absolutely prohibited and 

 the prohibition enforced. 



It is my belief that for the permanent preservation of fur-seal life, 

 Jno. w. Smith, p. 233. f\ Pelagic hunting should be prohibited abso- 

 lutely. 



It is, therefore, in my opinion, necessary that the seals should be 



protected, and all killing in the water prohibited 



W. B. Taylor, p. ill. m all waters which the seal herd frequents, and 



especially in Bering Sea and while the herd are 



en route to and from the islands through the Aleutian passes. 



In my opinion, pelagic hunting should be stopped altogether in order 



to give the seal proper protection. I have resided 

 J. C. Tolman, p. 223. in Wraugel t]ie ] ast year and a hal f # 



Both in order to maintain the herd and to restore the seal skin in- 

 Geo. R. Treadwell p. ,lus try to a sure footing, I should like to see all 

 523. ' ' ' taking of seals in the water prohibited. 



I am of the opinion that all killing of seals in the water should be 

 prevented, both in Bering Sea and the North Pa- 

 Geo. Wardman, p. 179. cific, because the seals thus killed are slaughtered 

 without discrimination as to age or sex. In case 

 such killing be prevented in the water, such regulations can be en- 

 forced upon the islands that the Pribilof seal herd will yield a supply 

 of skins for an indefinite period without reducing the size of the herd. 

 If, however, the killing of seals in the water is not prevented, all cal- 

 culations looking toward the preservation of them on the islands by 

 the Government and the lessees will be of no avail, and the Alaska seal 

 will be exterminated. 



And deponent is of the opinion that if no restriction be imposed 

 upon such indiscriminate killing as has been go- 



C. A. William*, p. 538. ing on in Beriug Sea and the North Pacific since 

 the year 1885 by the poachers, the sealing indus- 

 tries of the North Pacific will follow the course of those industries 

 that formerly existed in the southern seas; and that there is only a 

 measurable time, say at the outside five years, when, if the present 

 condition of things continues, the seals of Bering Sea will be as ex- 

 tinct as the seals of south sea islands. 



Dexjonent says that the most complete protection to the herds would 



